But it was another EgyptAir plane that played host to a bizarre incident in March when a disgruntled husband said he had explosives strapped to him and took control of an Airbus A320 en route from Alexandra to Cairo. Ben Innes, one of the British passengers on-board, became briefly famous for daring to pose for a photo with the hijacker.

That episode ended without anybody coming to harm, which was not the case in 1985, when one of the airline's planes was taken over by the terrorist group Abu Nidal Organisation.

EgyptAir Flight 648, a Boeing 737-200, was hijacked on its way to Cairo from Athens and diverted to Malta where it landed, despite the protestations of the Maltese authorities. The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops led to 60 deaths, including two of the three Palestinian hijackers, making it one of the bloodiest such incidents in history.

The scene after the 1985 hijackingCredit:
AP

The flag carrier of Egypt started life in 1932 as Misr Airlines, before becoming United Arab Airlines in 1957, and EgyptAir in 1971, in keeping with the changing political situation in the country.

In 2008 it became a member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest global airline group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss and United Airlines among others.

Given a rating of three stars (out of five) by SkyTrax, the aviation quality surveyors, EgyptAir has an overall score of 5/10 from customer reviews.

The airline’s hub is at Cairo International Airport, where it runs services to more than 75 destinations, both domestic and international, including London Heathrow. It offers flights to Sharm el Sheikh International Airport, currently closed to British carriers on the advice of the Foreign Office.

In November last year, two weeks after the crash that brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 on the Sinai peninsula, Russian authorities banned EgyptAir from flying to Russia, citing security concerns. Flights have not yet resumed.

The airline was in the news in 2012 when its female cabin crew members campaigned for - and won - the right to wear a hijab while working.